The latest in a string of recent car bomb attacks came as Iraqi expatriates started voting in national elections scheduled for 30 January in their homeland.

U.S. and Iraqi forces are on high alert in much of Iraq as officials have been expecting an increase in violence with the approach of the polls.

Some 280,000 Iraqis living in 14 countries (Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Jordan) have three days to vote, starting today.

Yesterday, some 20 people were killed in a series of attacks involving rockets, roadside explosives, and suicide car bombs.